D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Grows Holdings in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) by 152.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 251,592 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 152,019 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.13% of Esperion Therapeutics worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 24,482,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $53,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,245 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,629,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,586,000 after buying an additional 506,428 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,454,216 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,399,000 after buying an additional 385,099 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Esperion Therapeutics by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 932,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 220,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in Esperion Therapeutics by 1,455.8% during the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 190,441 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 178,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.39% of the company’s stock.

Esperion Therapeutics Stock Down 1.6%

ESPR opened at $0.79 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $156.64 million, a PE ratio of -1.23 and a beta of 0.75. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.69 and a twelve month high of $3.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.79.

Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $65.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $54.97 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ESPR. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Esperion Therapeutics from $4.00 to $3.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $4.00 price objective (down from $7.00) on shares of Esperion Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Esperion Therapeutics from $5.00 to $4.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.25.

About Esperion Therapeutics

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, a pharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes medicines for the treatment of patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Its marketed products include NEXLETOL (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe) tablets that are oral, once-daily, non-statin medicines for the treatment of primary hyperlipidemia in adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who require additional lowering of LDL-C.